this will be a working christmas vacation for president obama. the senate will reconvene december 27th, so after christmas. and up until that time, it's up to president obama to try to work out a deal with the senate majority leader, harry reed, as well as the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell to avert tax hikes going into effect at the new year. the president wants them for those making $250,000 or less to remain in effect and to go up beyond there. but he'll need to work out something presumably that would be able to pass the senate. and then presumably the house with some democratic support, as well as republican support. and listen to what the president said last night. he's holding out hope this can be ton. >> nobody can get 100% of what they want. and this is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn't. call me a hopeless optimist. but i actually still think we can get it done. >> reporter: now, the effort to get some sort of big package put together here to deal with the long-term fiscal health of